CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Using a big fifth inning to get back in the win column, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi baseball team has now evened the series with Abilene Christian following a 6-1 game two victory Saturday night at Whataburger Field to set up the rubber match.
The Islanders (5-8) plated five in the fifth to break open the game with ACU (8-4) who was held to just one run the whole way after junior
Riely Hunsaker settled on the mound following the score in the first inning. He went on the pitch five more innings of shutout baseball, sending six back to the dugout off strikeouts to notch his second win of the season.
Ensuring that win held up, junior
Maddox Thornton pitched the final 3.0 innings in near-perfect relief, only allowing one base on balls. It earned him his second save of the year, as he is now 2-for-2 in saves when entering the game out of the bullpen.
"I thought it was a good night for the home team," said head coach
Scott Malone. "I thought
Riely Hunsaker was outstanding to set the tone early and he really got after the other side. He gave our offense a chance again and again to take the lead and get going and obviously we finally pushed through and had a big inning."
A triage of Islanders turned in multi-hit nights as senior
Cole Modgling and juniors
Drake Kerr and
Logan Vaughan all notched two. The three also each scored at least one of A&M-Corpus Christi's six with Vaughan being sent home twice as he drove in three others as well.
"I can't say enough about
Cole Modgling, a senior who is just trying to find a spot in the batting order. Coach [Matt] Parker calls him the smart plug because he just cranks it up when he goes in, and he did it again tonight. He was a big part of us winning this game," Malone said.
After the Wildcats struck early off an RBI-double in the opening frame, the mound took care of business while awaiting the A&M-Corpus Christi offense to back it up. That time came in the fifth, as the Islanders made it worth the wait.
Modgling swung on the first pitch he saw to lead off with a triple to the right field gap in the fifth. Junior
Mason Persons and
Isaac Webb each drew the walk in the next at-bats to load the bases with no one out and Kerr drove home two with the single through the right.
Up 2-1, Kerr and Gruell remained on base with two outs before the double steal got them into second and third positioning. Vaughan then plated them both with the double to left center before showing his base running by going from second to home off senior
Sebastian Trinidad's single through the left to cap a five-inning outing.
In the eighth, Vaughan then added some insurance with the hard-hit solo home run way over the right field wall to make it a 6-1 game while Thornton completed the three-up, three-down ninth to secure the win.
"It's a great win. I told these guys that now we have a chance to win a series against once of the better mid-majors in the state and tomorrow will be a big game for us," said Malone.
That opportunity to clinch the series will come tomorrow back at Chapman Field for a 1 p.m. first pitch. The game will be available to watch live with a subscription to ESPN+.
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